Researchers are now able to see and study previously “unseen” galaxies through the help of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Telescope.
With the goal to know more about the history of the universe, researchers used the Hubble Space Telescope to capture images of the smallest and faintest galaxies. The researchers used deep exposure to come up with the pictures of these newly-discovered galaxies which were detailed in the three-year survey called the Frontier Fields.
The Hubble Telescope was also guided by ultraviolet light to find star-forming fields and they were able to document 58 galaxies as they were being formed at least 10 billion years ago. The newly-discovered galaxies are much smaller than the galaxies we know today, with some measuring only a few light years across. Although the star formation in these galaxies gave them light, the glow that they emit is about 100 times fainter than the light emitted by galaxies discovered in deep-field areas.
Study leader Brian Siana of the University of California, Riverside told SPACE.com, “There's always been the concern that we've only found the brightest of the distant galaxies. The bright galaxies are only the tip of the iceberg. Now we have found those 'unseen' galaxies, and we're really confident that we're seeing the rest of the iceberg. ”
Results of the Hubble Space Telescope’s discoveries were presented on Tuesday, January 7 at the 223rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society which took place in Washington.
In a separate effort, the Spitzer Telescope was utilized to help researchers calculate the mass of the four brightest galaxies that were chosen from the data gathered by the Hubble telescope. The chosen galaxies were also believed to be the earliest galaxies in our universe.
“This is the first time scientists were able to measure an object's mass at such a huge distance," Pascal Oesch said to SPACE.com. Oesch was in the University of California, Santa Cruz while the study was being conducted. "It's a fabulous demonstration of the synergy between Hubble and Spitzer."
The galaxies observed by Spitzer were about one-twentieth the size of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. However, they followed a fast pace of star formation which may be the reason why these four galaxies are unusually bright for their size. Researchers are postulating that these galaxies were formed through merging with many other small galaxies.
Results of both studies will be followed up by James Wedd Space Telescope of NASA. The James Webb Space Telescope is a $8.8 billion project expected to be launched in 2018.
